Game Reviews | Tumblin Dice Review by hensa

Ok, dexterity lovers, it's finally happened - I've tracked down a copy of Tumblin Dice and reviewed it for your reading pleasure.

In Tumblin Dice, each player gets four dice and attempts to roll/flick/shoot them down the board in an effort to score points.  Once everyone has used all four of their dice, then you calculate scores - each die is worth the number of pips showing times the tier of the board that it landed on.  That's the whole game - you can either play until one player gets a certain number of points, or you can switch out players after each round.

So, if you've been around this site for very long, then you know that I'm a sucker for dexterity games.  And, sure enough, I think that Tumblin Dice is a great offering in the genre.  But, what does it do well?  Well, first I like the fact that you can knock out other players dice - or try to improve the positioning of your own.  And, I like the risk that those moves entail.  For example, if one of the players manages to land one of his dice on a 4x spot early in the round, then they have made themselves a target.  However, in order to get your die far enough down the board to hit him - and with enough force to knock him off the board, you will be flicking your die fairly hard.  And, shots with this much force will often go careening off of the board and be worth nothing.  But, conversely, if you don't shoot your die hard enough, then there's a good chance that all you will wind up doing is getting in the way and making it harder for any of the other players to knock the high scoring die off later.

Tiered board with pegs to hide beside

Another element that I like about Tumblin Dice is how the board is laid out.  I enjoy both the fact that the board is tiered and that there are pegs on the lower tiers.  The tiered approach makes it so that your die will actually change faces (if it was a flat board, everyone would just set their die on a six, and it wouldn't matter if you were using dice, disks, small rocks, or semi-melted popsicles).  And, controlling (or desperately attempting to control) how many times the die will flip over on its way down the board is an important element in scoring higher values.  The other element of the board layout that I like are the pegs - the pegs really allow you a bit of a "safety net" when shooting your dice.  If you can hit a peg (softly), then you can stop your die from falling off the board - and you can protect yourself from being easily knocked off by other players.  This adds an extra element of skill to the game - in addition to just rolling your dice down the board, positioning them well can also help you win the game.

The final pro that I will mention for Tumblin Dice is that it is great to play with anybody.  You can play this with kids, adults, gamers, and non-gamers (I've actually played it with all of these different groups).  Plus, it's great for attracting people (assuming you're trying to do this for some reason).  Set up Tumblin Dice and start playing it, and it basically serves as a people magnet - people will come over to see what you are doing.  And they will want to play it.  And it plays quickly enough that you can let them; but then you might not be playing.  But I guess "you" need to learn to share (in this situation you actually refers to me).

One thing that I will mention about Tumblin Dice that I consider to be "neutral" is that there is definitely luck involved.  Most dexterity games have luck to varying degrees, but in Tumblin Dice it is much more obvious.  As you flick dice, they will topple end over end down the board.  Because of how dice are shaped, this means that they will change faces - and thus values.  I believe that if you become ridiculously skilled at the game, then you will be able to control this... somewhat.  But, there will always be an element of luck involved with it.  And, if you only manage to flick your die to a 2x tier, but it lands on a 6, then you will outscore somebody that lands on a 4x tier but with a 2 showing on the die.  Some people will hate this, others will actually prefer it - but either way you should be aware of it when deciding if Tumblin Dice is a game to check out.

My main complaint

I don't really have any real cons with the gameplay of Tumblin Dice - it is exactly what I expected it to be.  However, I do have one con associated with the quality of my copy of the game.  My copy has a small wooden shard glued to one of the legs that causes the board to be lopsided.  I'm not really sure what caused this.  I'm also afraid to fix the issue, because so far I've been able to get the board to sit flat even with this situation - so I think that the board may not be completely balanced.  Since I've always managed to get the board setup and flat, I will probably just let it be.

Overall, I give Tumblin Dice an 8.5/10.  I really enjoy it, but I don't think that it will replace Crokinole or PitchCar as my "go to" dexterity game.

If you enjoy dexterity games, you might also check out Sorry! Sliders, Catacombs, and Caveman Curling.

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